


The puppy behind the garage

by CupcakeGangsta



Series: Shatter me - Kindergarten AU [3]
Category: Shatter Me Series - Tahereh Mafi
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Anderson is actually doing alright, As Angsty as a time-out can be for a kindergartener..., Brotherly Bonding, Co-Parenting, Domestic, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Half-Siblings, Light Angst, Puppy Love, stray dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupcakeGangsta/pseuds/CupcakeGangsta
Summary: Six-year-old Aaron Warner Anderson wants a dog more than anything else in the world. When he finds a puppy behind the garage he reluctantly lets his brother Adam in on the secret.Can the two boys hide the puppy from their Father?
Relationships: Adam Kent & Aaron Warner
Series: Shatter me - Kindergarten AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729834
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	The puppy behind the garage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Effei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Effei/gifts).



> I love writing domestic stuff with kids. The children are so cute QuQ  
> I didn't expect this to be so long though! Almost 5k words! :0
> 
> Oh, and let's just pretend that people still let their children run around outdoors without fear of them getting kidnapped, even in suburban LA.

"Daddy is never gonna let us keep it."

Aaron looked at the puppy. Its fur was a messy mix of different browns, beiges and whites; kind of like ice cream with cookie dough. It was wagging its tail as it kept sniffing Adam's shoes. It seemed to like Adam's velcro shoes more. Aaron did not have velcro, he had laces, because he was a big boy.

Despite not having achieved the status of _big boy_ yet, though, his younger brother was right. Their dad would never let them keep the puppy.

Their Dad did not seem to like puppies. Or dogs for that matter.

"I never said we should keep it…”, Aaron told him. He was still unsure about letting his brother in on the secret. The secret of a puppy living behind the garage building, between the garbage bins.

The dog sat down and started panting. Its pink tongue hung out on the side of the mouth. It whined.

"What do you think it wants?", Adam wondered.

“Water I think.” There wasn’t any water behind the garage. And dogs need water, he had learned that from Animal Planet. Which was why Adam was there to begin with. To watch the puppy while Aaron got the important stuff done.

“You watch him while I go get water”, Aaron instructed.

His brother’s blue eyes went wide.

“What if he runs away? He doesn’t know me...”

“He likes it when you make squeak noises.”

Adam looked at the puppy, to his brother and back again. The puppy had laid down and was focusing on the velcro straps again, which must have been a comfort to Adam, because he nodded.

“Okay, you go get the water.”

It wasn’t very far to the apartment from the garage. You didn’t even have to cross a road, which was very convenient because Aaron wasn’t allowed to cross the road by himself. You just had to watch out for cars, then it was up the stairs to the second level and around the corner. Their Daddy hated the stairs, it was annoying to get the stroller up and down, but Aaron liked being able to see the street from above. You could see the dogs walking outside that way.

His dad was sitting at the table when he came in. There were lots of papers spread out in front of him. He looked up when Aaron came in through the door.

“Where is your brother?”

“Outside. We want water.”

“Try that again”, his Dad said and returned his gaze to his papers.

The little boy straightened slightly in the doorway.

“Adam’s outside, and we would like some water, please.”

He watched his Daddy huff a light sigh, but he didn’t actually seem annoyed over being interrupted in his reading.

“Go call your brother inside and I can make you something.”

“We want it outside...”, Aaron said, being careful not to pout. 

“It’s hot”, he added when he saw that his Daddy looked skeptical.

The man looked out the window. The sun was shining.

“Go fetch your water bottles and your sunscreen.”

Aaron frowned but did as he was told.

He had a water bottle in his backpack. It was a red one, with his name spelled out on the side, so that he knew which one was his during baseball practice. Adam had gotten one as well, but blue.

He grabbed both of them as well as the sunscreen and went to his father who had walked over to the sink in the adjoined kitchen. His Daddy filled up both water bottles, and when he was done Aaron had to put on more sunscreen. Normally he would fuss a little, because he hated sunscreen; it was sticky and didn’t come off until bathtime, and Adam didn’t need sunscreen so it was unfair; but he had already left Adam alone with the puppy for too long.

* * *

The puppy ran up to him and pulled on his shirt when he returned. Aaron smiled.

“He wouldn’t give me a bowl”, he told his brother.

Adam frowned.

“Why not?”

“He said that if we want to play with water we do it in the bathtub. But don’t worry, I have a plan. Cup your hands.”

Adam did and Aaron poured some of the water into his awaiting hands.

“Now you’re the bowl.”

Adam held it out for the puppy who immediately eagerly bounced up to see what he was offering. First, it dipped its nose into the water, but once it realized what it was it happily started drinking.

When it was done it peed. Right on the sidewalk. It became a puddle.

“That’s a lot of pee...”, Adam remarked.

“Just don’t step in it, Daddy won’t like that.”

They played with the puppy for quite a while longer, watching it squeeze behind the garbage cans and emerging on the other side, tearing through random pieces of cardboard and hard plastic; Aaron tried to take away those because dogs weren’t supposed to eat plastic.

_And speaking of eating…_

“He must be hungry. He hasn’t eaten all day.”

“But we don’t have any dog food...”, Adam said.

The brothers thought for a bit. The puppy went to pull on Adam’s shoes again.

“There’s baby food in the fridge!”, Adam gasped finally. “James’ baby food. And puppies are babies, so it probably won’t make that much difference.”

Aaron considered it. He couldn’t find a reason why it wouldn’t work. As long as it didn’t have onions or grapes or chocolate in them.

“I’ll have to be the one to go get it.”

“Why?”, Adam wondered. Not that he seemed that upset about trying to sneak baby food out of the fridge.

“You’re too short.”

Adam frowned as if he was about to protest, but he realized that this was true. He wouldn’t reach the shelf with the food.

So it had to be Aaron that did it.

He wasn’t completely sure how to do it. His Daddy would ask what he wanted. If he was unlucky he would call both of them inside because they were running in and out too much.

He had to come up with an excuse just in case. _He had to pee._ Yes, that would work. He practiced saying it to himself a couple of times, and once he was happy with how it sounded he went inside, being very, very careful of how he pushed down the handle on his way in.

He heard it as soon as the door opened. His Daddy was vacuuming. Probably in the bedroom.

 _Bingo!_ he thought, just like his granddad would cheer on Thursday evenings.

He walked into the kitchen and over to the fridge. He waited some, just in case his father against all odds still had heard the door and was just finishing up. But the vacuum kept going as loud as before. 

Using his small hands he opened the fridge. He had to hold his breath hard as the seal in the door loosened and sucked in air. Looked over his shoulder.

_Coast is clear._

He stood on his tippy toes and lifted his arm high above his head to reach. Looked over his shoulder.

_Coast is still clear._

His eyes zeroed in on the short stubby jar of brown _Bolgonese._

He braced one arm against the top of the freezer door and jumped. Fingers closing around it. _Got it._

With his feet on the ground again he looked over his shoulder, his little heart racing in his chest.

_Still clear._

Now to the worst part. He closed the fridge. Then he waited. And waited some more.

But his Dad didn’t come. So he ran outside, closing the door gently behind him.

It took them four attempts between them to open the jar, but the aching in their palms was worth it because the puppy had been hungry just like they thought. It gulped down the food, its tail waving wildly. Then it crawled in behind the garbage can. When the boys peeked inside they saw that it had curled up and gone to sleep.

Aaron was just about to suggest that they found a name for it when he heard a call over their heads.

“Aaron! Adam! Dinner!”

They had to go.

* * *

“Daddy?”, Adam said.

“Yes?”

“May we go outside when we’ve cleaned up?”

Aaron set his fork down and listened attentively. The puppy needed evening water after all.

Their father thought about it while he chewed.

“It was a whole lot of playing outside today...”, he noted.

“We were having fun”, Aaron perked up. Their parents were quite keen on them trying to get along.

The man turned his head and looked out the window. He chewed. Swallowed.

“It’ll be too dark.”

Aaron frowned.

“But-”

“No buts. I don’t want you two getting hit by cars.”

When he saw that both of them were frowning he added: “It’s Friday, we’ll watch a movie.”

After their bath the two brothers sat down on the couch and looked out over the parking lot while they were waiting for their Dad to finish up in the kitchen before the movie. They had already decided to watch Cars.

“It must get cold out there at night”, Aaron whispered to his brother.

“Maybe we can build a house for it...”, Adam suggested. “A dog house.”

Aaron nodded. It sounded like an excellent project for the next day.

“We can look for soft stuff for the bed in the cardboard bin, because Mrs. Edwald doesn’t sort her trash”, he agreed.

“We’ll have to find another pot plate for some water.”

“Yeah!”

Their planning was brought to a quick end when their Dad called out.

_"Adam Kent Anderson. You come here right now.”_

The boys looked at each other. Their father had used the first, middle, and last name. Adam was in trouble. Big trouble.

Thing was, neither of them had any idea what crime Adam had supposedly committed; not like the time Aaron had climbed up on the counter and stolen the key to the cupboard under the sink. _If their daddy kept it locked there had to be something there, right?_ All they had found were colorful bottles and sponges, so they didn’t understand why he had even locked it in the first place. Either way, their Daddy had spanked them with one of his baking spatulas once he found out what they were doing and Aaron hadn’t tried stealing the key again.

“Where did you put the jar?”, Aaron whispered.

“I recycled it”, Adam whispered back.

So their Daddy couldn’t have found the jar. But knowing better than to keep their father waiting Adam got off the couch and reluctantly went to the front door. Aaron hesitated, but followed in favor of finding out what was going on. But he stayed at the safe distance of peeking around the corner.

He could see their Dad on one knee by the little shelf they hung their backpacks on. He had probably been putting their water bottles back into their bags. He wasn’t holding a water bottle now though. He was holding a shoe. Adam’s shoe.

Aaron hadn’t noticed it before, but the straps looked _not-so-neat_ anymore. Actually, they were torn. Torn by a very nippy puppy in their parking lot. He felt his belly drop to below his knees.

“What have you done to your shoes?”, their father asked. He was angry. 

Adam looked at the shoe, and after realizing the same as Aaron he looked at the floor. Their Father scowled before reaching out a hand and brought up Adam’s chin again.

“You look at me when I’m talking to you”, he said, annoyed now. _“What did you do to your shoes?”_

Adam stayed silent.

“No?”, their Father asked. “Look at this shoe, Adam.” Adam looked at it. ”James was supposed to have this when you had grown out of it, but now it’s ruined. I will have to buy new ones. These were practically brand new. They cost money.”

Adam’s little lip started trembling. Their Father waited. But Adam stayed silent.

“You won’t tell me what you did?”

Adam shook his head, pursing his lips.

“Then you’re going five minutes on the…” Their Daddy had to pause to think what the new punishment was called. “On the _naughty mat.”_

Their Daddy wasn’t a fan of the naughty mat, but their respective mothers got very angry at him when he spanked them. Aaron wasn’t completely sure what he himself preferred more. Timeouts took so long. And they were loud. For example, if James refused to sit still for his designated two minutes it could take almost twenty minutes before the toddler finally accepted his punishment. And his screams were quite unbearable. On the other hand, spankings hurt, and Aaron rarely ended up in timeout anyway.

Adam didn’t like either of them, but he liked lying even less and was crying before their Daddy had even rolled out the mat in the corner of the living room.

“Five minutes Adam”, he said as he moved Adam to sit down in the middle of the circular mat, and set the timer on his phone.

Aaron wanted to talk with Adam, but he couldn’t. Not when Adam was on the naughty mat. Five minutes went by quickly, however, even if it felt very long to the children, and the phone soon played the jingle proclaiming the time was up.

“You have two options Adam. You’ll be honest with me, or you’ll sit for another five minutes.”

Adam hiccuped. Aaron really thought his brother would cave in, but to his surprise, Adam shook his head.

“I d-don’t know what happened...”, Adam said.

Their father scowled a little.

“I think you’re lying.”

The look in Adam’s eyes was pure devastation. His lip wobbled and Aaron knew that his brother would lunge into a loud cry any second. Which he did. Fat tears started rolling down his face, and his breath started hitching.

Their father stood up again and pulled out his phone to set the timer again. Aaron bit his lip. They’d never watch the movie if Adam didn’t tell the truth. The entire evening would be ruined. Their Daddy would be in a bad mood.

But most importantly: Adam would feel awful if he had to keep lying.

“It was a dog!”

Their Daddy looked at him. So did Adam. Startled. Confused.

“A _dog?”_

Aaron hesitated, still unsure if he really dared to do this, but he nodded.

His father looked at him in disbelief, then marched out into the tambour. He picked up the shoe and looked at it again, and sure enough, he could distinguish the holes made from sharp teeth.

He came back. Shoe still in his hand.

“What have I told you about petting people’s dogs?”, the man asked then.

“We asked first...”, Aaron lied.

Their Daddy still didn’t look happy.

“Both of you are staying inside tomorrow”, he announced, using his punishment voice. But then he changed his mind.

 _“No wait...”,_ he said, shaking his head. _“Tomorrow_ you will point out the owner for Daddy so he can make them pay for the shoes their mutt ruined.”

But there was no owner, Aaron knew that. But that wasn’t actually a problem. His Daddy would chase after an owner who didn’t exist. And when he was tired of looking he’d forget it.

So Aaron just nodded in agreement.

The man turned to Adam, who still hadn’t calmed down from the scolding. Their father hushed him gently.

“Is this true, Adam? That a dog ruined your shoes?”, he asked once he had his attention.

Adam nodded, relieved that he didn’t have to lie anymore. Or, at least partially. He wiped his nose with his sleeve.

“Yes, Daddy…”

His confession wasn’t enough, though.

“Your brother shouldn’t be the one to have to tell me that, Adam. When you do something _you_ are the one responsible for your actions. Aaron may be your big brother who’s looking out for you, but you can’t walk around thinking he’ll act your conscience. Do you understand?”

Adam nodded.

“Can you tell me why you didn’t tell me before?”

Adam fiddled with the texture of the mat. He shrugged.

“I didn’t notice the shoes went bad, and you were angry...”

Their father frowned then. His mouth became a crooked line. Just like when his mother told him to think about what his therapist had said. _(The therapist was a gentleman who helped his father talk about his feelings, and whose appointments made his father unable to pick him up until five o’clock on Thursdays.)_

“Well, I’m glad you’re being honest to me now...”, he said after a moment.

“I’ll try to do better next time”, Adam proposed. Adults liked it when you said that. Daddy especially didn’t like when they promised things, because promises were hard to keep. But doing better, that was easier to do, and harder to fail at.

“Good boy”, their father said. Then he opened his arms and scooped Adam up, and they hugged.

Aaron became a little jealous then. After all, he was the one who had told him about the dog… His Dad must have noticed it, because when they sat down and watched the movie later he didn’t tell Aaron that he was too old to curl up under his arm. Instead, Daddy didn’t say anything and stroked his leg.

“Daddy”, Adam said a while later. The cars were just about to start making the tractors fall over. He was sitting on the other side of their father.

“Yeah, bud?”

“Can I get laces for my new shoes?”

Their father was surprised. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

“Aaron can show me”, Adam said.

And Aaron nodded. He could do that.

* * *

The next morning the two boys gobbled down their breakfast and quickly got their shoes on (and Aaron his sunscreen) to go outside.

“Now, if you see the owner, _you”,_ he pointed at Aaron. “Tell them I need to talk to them, and _you”,_ he pointed at Adam. “Run and fetch me. Easy. Do you understand?”

Both boys nodded.

“Then you may go.”

They ran as fast as they could _(while still being mindful of any moving cars on the parking lot)_ and to their shared relief the puppy was still there when they arrived.

It waged it’s tale and walked around their legs, licking their ankles, obviously happy that they had come back.

Aaron gave it a piece of sausage that he had snuck into a napkin and into his pocket at the table. The puppy ate it hungrily. Adam filled up the plate from yesterday with water, and the puppy drank some of it as well.

“Daddy put the rest of the sausages into the fridge again. Maybe we can get some”, Adam suggested. Today he was very mindful of what the puppy did to his shoes. He was wearing the same ones from yesterday. They barely stayed strapped down, but they wouldn’t be able to buy new ones until later that week, their father had said.

“Daddy will come to the door as soon as he hears us coming, though”, Aaron told him. “It’s going to be way harder to get any food out.”

That was not much of a problem, because they already had a task in mind: To build a house. Or at least a little shelter.

They ran all around the apartment building, looking into bins and such to find sturdy material to build with, as well as soft things to make the bed out of. The puppy diligently followed them, waving its tail and playing tug-of-war with some of the articles.

When looking into the combustibles Aaron even found an old shoe that he gave to the dog.

They spent all morning building the thing, using cardboard as walls and a discolored serving tray as the roof. And just as they thought, there were old towels as well as a cushion in the dumpsters _(Aaron had to stand on a bucket to be able to reach over the edge)_.

They were practically finished when it happened.

It was lunchtime, but they had been too busy to listen properly. They first heard him, calling their names from outside. But they didn’t have time to run out from behind the garage before he came around the corner. He must have heard their laughter.

“Boys, I’ve told you you need to pay attention--”

Their Father’s eyes went so wide.

“Jesus--” Followed by a string of curses that would make his mother hiss.

It was enough to make the puppy cower away from this new angry man.

“Get away from it!”, their father ordered.

“But-”, Adam said. Adam couldn’t finish his sentence because he was pulled back, away from the puppy.

“Shoo!”, their dad said to the puppy who tried to follow. _“Shoo_ I said...!” He tried to use his foot to push it away.

“Daddy don’t...”, Adam protested.

“No Daddy!”, Aaron joined in.

“Quiet both of you! It’s probably covered in flees and all kinds of nasties. Shoo!”

Then he clapped his hands, and the noise startled the animal so that it ran off to behind the trashcan again.

“Come here, Aaron.”

Aaron didn’t want to follow his Dad, he wanted to make sure the dog wasn’t scared. But he hadn’t even taken a step in the right direction when he was plucked up around the waist.

“Hey! Put me down…!”, Aaron said, wiggling in his grip.

His father didn’t listen. Instead he kept Aaron under one arm, and with the other he led Adam out of the little alley between the garage and the fence. He stopped on the sidewalk outside where he put Aaron down.

When Aaron looked up he saw that his Dad was in a bad mood again.

 _“A dog?_ You told me you asked the owner. That’s _a stray dog,_ Aaron! God knows what it could have done to you. It might have had rabies!” He was pulling out his phone, and for a moment Aaron thought he’d be put in time out. Right there on the sidewalk. But instead his father started tapping things in and scrolling.

Adam must have noticed this, too. He was frowning, a little scared from being pulled, and also from what was going to happen now that their Dad knew that they had lied.

“What are you doing Daddy?”, he asked.

“I’m calling someone to come catch the dog”, their dad said, putting the phone to his ear.

“We don’t need to catch it, it’s really nice. We can just--” Aaron started walking towards the dumpsters again, to show his father that they could easily coax the puppy out again. His Father didn’t like that.

“You stay right here, young man!”, he told him, pointing at the ground by his feet.

Then his phone must have reached the receiver. Aaron still obeyed. If he tried to walk away his Dad might just pick him up, and he didn’t want that.

“Hello? This is the animal police, right? … Yeah, my kids have found a, er, a puppy. It’s hiding behind the dumpsters at our apartment building. … Yeah, it was real' dirty so I don’t think-- _Adam be quiet._ ”

Adam had started crying.

“Daddy, don’t call the police…!”, he begged. “The police are going to put the puppy in jail...”

“No, Adam, they’re not--”

Too late. Aaron heard, and even if he didn’t take what his brother said for a fact most of the time, this was just too horrible of a possibility to imagine. He started crying too. And so the two brothers wailed together, arms hugging each their father’s leg for any semblance of comfort.

“Jesus Christ...”, their Daddy muttered above their heads.

* * *

“Is it true you called the police on a puppy?”, she asked, slightly amused.

 _“It was the Animal police, actually. Someone had to catch it, it was a danger to the kids in the neighborhood”,_ the voice on the other end said.

Aaron and Adam were still at their father’s house, but during the daily phone calls between Adam and Catherine Adam had told her the whole story of the stray dog the boys had phone. Afterwards, Catherine had called Leila to discuss the situation. They were both worried that Paris might be overwhelmed with two half traumatized children to deal with for the rest of the weekend. But once the animal police had arrived the whole drama had calmed down considerably. The officers had explained to the children that the puppy wasn’t going _to jail_ , but a shelter where they would make sure it was healthy and give it all the food and water it needed, and a proper bed and toys. 

Which sounded good enough to Aaron and Adam, even though they were sad to see their friend go.

“Yes Paris, you did your duty to society”, she praised.

He accepted it without question.

_“I’m just a bit annoyed that the officers told them the dogs are adopted afterwards. Aaron’s been on my heel all day since asking if I could get one.”_

Leila smiled. Of course their son would do such a thing.

“You know, Paris, if anyone would be able to train an obedient dog, I’d say you’re the man up for the task.”

 _“Don’t start up with the hobbies”,_ he begged. _“Cat wants me to take a baking class. She already got me a whisk...”_

She blinked, a little startled.

“Well, I think that sounds like a great idea actually. The baking that is.”

He did that nervous laugh he did when he was confronted with something he didn’t want to acknowledge.

“ _Yeah… We’ll see about that. Adam is calling me now. Gotta go.”_

“Good night, Paris”, she said.

_“Good night.”_

And then she hung up.

“What do you think about getting a dog?”, she asked her father.

Her father looked at her, a little startled by the sudden suggestion.

“W-what dog?”, he inquired, innocently.

“The dog Aaron and Adam found between the recycling bins over at Paris’. But after it’s been through foster of course”, she assured him.

“A dog, Leila?”, he wondered, still confused over what this sudden idea had come from.

She shrugged and sat down next to him on the couch in his living room. “I’m thinking; the house is going to be really empty once we get the schedule rolling. And Aaron always wanted a dog. Paris was the main reason we never got one. Would get fur on all of his clothes he said.”

He considered it for a bit. “What about your job, dear? Puppies need to pee and all that. They’re practically toddlers. But with _teeth…”_

“Well, since you brought it up, Daddy…”, she mused. She folded up her legs on the sofa and leaned to rest her chin on his arm.

“Since you’re retired. _And have a garden...”_

He scoffed through his mustache, realizing he had fallen into the trap. He smiled.

“If that’s what you want, dear”, he said, just like many times in the past when his daughter came with requests to him. “After all, you are an adult now.”

“I’ll call the shelter tomorrow and see what they think first. I’ve heard street dogs aren’t always suited with toddlers, and I would hate if anything happened to James. But since it’s a puppy it might still work.”

And even if they didn’t permit her, maybe she could still schedule some sort of visit so that Aaron and Adam could go see how their friend was being treated.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Leila gets the dog :P  
> And I'm pretty sure it's a female.
> 
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed~!


End file.
